In the movie The Empire Strikes Back Jedi Master Yoda tells young Luke Skywalker, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” For Luke is feels he knows a lot of things, but the only way for him to learn truly new things is to realize that a lot of what he thinks he knows is wrong. I think, perhaps, we need to do that with the scene of the woman anointing Jesus that we read in our gospel reading. It is a very famous Bible passage, and as soon as we begin to hear it our minds are filled with all sorts of things that we think we know. But they may not actually be there.
The four gospels in the Bible each contain a scene where a woman extravagantly anoints Jesus. We inadvertently mix them all together, and then make interpretations based on the combined image. We then lose the particularities of each. Matthew’s gospel and Mark’s gospel are basically identical. But Luke tells this story as if it happened a long time before. And then it is, “woman of the city who is a sinner.” (Luke 7:37) She doesn’t anoint Jesus’ head but she anoints his feet, and then wipes them with her hair. In John’s gospel the woman is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, and it takes place in Lazarus’ house. All of this gets mixed up together in our head. Let’s unlearn that and instead go with just what Mark has told us.
First, Mark gives us details. Lots of them. He tells us it happens two days before the Passover. That would be Wednesday 13 Nisan on the Jewish calendar. Mark tells us where it happens. Bethany, about two miles southeast of Jerusalem. He tells us whose house it happens in. Simon, the Leper. Mark tells us what the jar holding the perfume is made of. Alabaster. He tells us what the perfume is. An ointment of nard. He gives us the details that she breaks the jar and pours it over Jesus’ head.
But what has Mark not told us? He has told us nothing about the woman… nothing at all! He does not give her name. He does not say where she is from. He does not say what she does for a living. He does not say how she came to know that Jesus was there, or how she knew about Jesus at all.
As Mark tells it, we could just as easily argue that this woman is the highly esteemed wife of a wealthy and powerful public figure, as we could argue that she is a prostitute from the street. The point is that Mark tells us nothing.
Now if your mind goes to thoughts like, “Well, Mark is just a sexist author who doesn’t think women are worth bothering with,” then put them away. Mark’s omission of all information about this woman is entirely deliberate. There are other women who have big roles in the gospel. At Jesus’ crucifixion we are told that there were a number of women there, including: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.
Those three are named at the crucifixion, and next week when you come for Easter you’re going to find those exact same three women, who, it turns out, will be bringing spices to anoint Jesus’ body.
What does Jesus say this completely unnamed and unidentifiable woman has done? “She has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.” (Mark 14:8)
When the three named women show up to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body for its burial they’re a bit behind the times. It’s already been done! But more about that next week. The key here is anonymous, and there is no way to ever find out! She will be forever unknown. But Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
And indeed we all owe this unidentifiable woman a huge debt of gratitude. The woman: rich/poor, respectable/disreputable, powerful/week, famous/unknown… breaks open an entire jar of nard and pours it on Jesus’ head. Why? Again, we’re not told. Was it devotion? Was it a thank you? Was it misplaced romantic love? Who knows. Her motives are just as lost to us as is her identity. What we do know is that it is extravagant. It is extreme. The whole house was certainly overwhelmed by the smell. It probably spilled out into the surrounding streets!
I put myself in the role of some of those gathered in the house and cry out in indignation, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.”
That indeed is a very practical statement. After all, a denarii was a day’s wages for a laborer. So this ointment was worth basically a year’s income! What a waste, to take a whole year of your life’s work and throw it away on the head of some traveling preacher!
Our English translations say that those who saw this scolded her. That’s not entirely correct. More literally translated, they “snorted” at her. This wasn’t scolding. This was derision… ‘You stupid woman! What are doing? You’re a silly idiot!’ (If there is sexism in this passage it is there!)
We don’t know why she did it, but we do know this. People did not bathe regularly in those days. This perfume was strong. This takes place on a Wednesday evening. Jesus has the Last Supper with the disciples on Thursday evening. He will be arrested, tried, sentenced, and executed by mid-day Friday. The smell of the perfume was surely still with him through it all. During the Last Supper the disciples smelt it. When Jesus was arrested on the Mount of Olives people smelt it. When Jesus is on trial people smelt it. And as Jesus hung dying, the smell was still with him.
If that is the case, and I think Mark intends it, then we do indeed owe this anonymous woman a debt of gratitude we can never repay. You see, when Jesus gets arrested the disciples start to peel away. Peter lingers, but all too soon also denies Jesus. The religious leaders hand Jesus over to the Romans. They don’t want Jesus either and hand him over to the soldiers who mock him and flog him. They then hand him over to be executed.
And on the cross Jesus is taunted and mocked by those who pass by. And don’t overlook this detail in Mark’s gospel when we read it on Good Friday. In Mark’s gospel even the two bandits, or “evildoers” taunt Jesus. You see, in Mark’s gospel event the criminal element of society mocks Jesus.
In other words, in Mark’s gospel every aspect of humanity rejected Jesus; from the high and mighty all the way down to the criminal element of society. He was truly alone on that cross.
Except… through it all there was one act of kindness done by humanity that lingered – the scent of nard poured out on him by that anonymous woman.
That is the only act of appreciation we humans gave our Lord as he saved us.
A year’s salary wasted on perfume?!? That price doesn’t begin to cover what we owe.
Once again we find that when we put ourselves in the hands of our gospel writer Mark he both shocks and absolutely humbles us.
Don’t let it be lost on you that this lone act of kindness from a person is the event which sends Judas (a clearly named character) to the religious leaders. And speaking of money, Judas literally sells out Jesus.
What do we take away from this text? Perhaps there is nothing to learn. Only an appreciation for what that woman did. It is a desire to give a huge thank you to someone you can never even give a name to.
And perhaps, when it comes to acts of love and devotion, sometimes it is best to not always be shrewd and calculating, but give and give to a level of absurd abundance.
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